LA Galaxy Insider Adam Serrano provides the Three Things We Learned from the U.S. National Team’s 6-0 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying victory over Honduras in San Jose.
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F CLINT DEMPSEY, 9: Well this sure didn’t look like a player coming off a six-month layoff. U.S. had won three matches and draw 1 matches.
United States faces Honduras in a World Cup qualifier today in San Jose. That’s just two off the US record set by Landon Donovan, the most acclaimed player in American annals. Arena will have to rely on Dempsey, as the attacker will likely replace Bobby Wood in the starting eleven. It wasn’t hard to tell which option Altidore preferred based on his glowing remarks about Dempsey’s national team return. Clint Dempsey has also been recalled to the USMNT after missing everything post-Copa America past year with a heart issue (despite Arena saying in January that Dempsey would not be called in for these two qualifiers). “It’s really fun playing with him”, Altidore said. Maybe it’s Sebastian Lletget. He’s also vastly versed in Hexagonal games and even at 34, might be chosen by Arena as a starter for his speed along with experience. Set pieces will be crucial opportunities to score, as will be counter-attacks through the left side against American right back Geoff Cameron, playing slightly out of position. A rash of injuries at right back probably mean Cameron shifts to the right, with Gonzalez (who is doing very well in Liga MX) stepping in.
On Wednesday, the Stoke City man made it clear he was capable of, and committed to, handling any role Arena gives him.
“It’s a roster where the primary rationale is to help us be successful in these two games”, he said upon announcing the squad, per the team’s official website.
No national team coach has the time to install intricate game plans, even before a World Cup, but Klinsmann, in his seemingly never-ending quest to prove he was the brightest soccer mind on the planet, spent his post-World Cup 2014 days trying to create systems that would take the USMNT from good to great. My play speaks for itself. For me, it’s a plus because I’m on the field. He plays a similar position with the Philadelphia Union as well.
After Bradley doubled the US advantage in the 27th minute, dribbling through the Honduran defense and surprising Escober with a left-footed shot from about 30 yards, Dempsey made it 3-0 five minutes later, running under a chip from Pulisic at the edge of the box, knocking it down with his right shoulder, then fending off defender Henry Figueroa to drive the ball past Escober as he went to the turf.
The U.S. on Tuesday visits Panama, with veteran midfielder Jermaine Jones back on the field after missing the Honduras game with a suspension for yellow card accumulation.
As important as Arena’s back-line selections are, figuring out the best attacking options remains a top priority given Honduras’ likely formation of a five-man defense with two defensive midfielders in support.
In what could be a nervy contest for the Americans, they are going to have to will the ball into the goal somehow. With a new coach, a slippery pitch, and a deceptively fast Honduras team, this had all the makings of a trap game for the United States.
From the opening whistle, the USA played more aggressively than in the latter years of Klinsmann’s reign.
Kljestan is the only true, proven No. 10 available.
“That was my attitude basically”.
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A well-weighted pass from Pulisic into the path of Dempsey helped the forward double his personal tally by rounding the goalkeeper in the 49th minute. “I thought we were able to do that and obviously it ends with the fact that we were able to get a really good goal to go up 1-0”.
